Rogan vs. Young

Podcaster Joe Rogan received backlash after promoting misinformation about the Covid-19 Vaccine and hosting a plethora of Covid conspiracy theorists on his podcast, “The Joe Rogan Experience.” Rogan, whose podcast was exclusively purchased by Spotify in 2020 for a $100 million contract, regularly receives over 11 million listeners per episode. It is evident that Rogan’s appeal to the general public is massive.

Earlier this year, Rogan published his podcast with virologist and Covid conspiracy theorist Dr. Robert Malone, an avid anti-Covid vaccine crusader who promoted the pandemic as a planned event.

Rogan used his massive platform to spread misinformation during the January podcast with Dr. Robert. Here are some of the claims Rogan made throughout the podcast episode, which is now deleted from the Spotify platform.

1. A vaccine can alter your genes.

   1. When talking about the vaccine, Rogan said, “This is not a vaccine; this is essentially a gene therapy.”

2. Ivermectin is the cure for Covid.

   1. Rogan shared his podcast platform with Bret Weinstein, professor of biology, who said: "Ivermectin alone is capable of driving this pathogen to extinction." These claims have been proven false.

3. Getting vaccinated after contracting Covid is more harmful.

   1. Rogan again shared his platform with covid conspiracist and virologist Doctor Robert Malone. Dr. Malone was previously banned from Twitter last December for spreading misinformation policies.

4. For young people, the vaccine creates more health risks than covid.

   1. Rogan said, "I don't think it's true there's an increased risk of myocarditis from people catching Covid-19 that are young, versus the risk from the vaccine."

From claiming that the Biden administration is “suppressing evidence supporting the efficacy of ivermectin as a Covid-19 treatment,” which was debunked by many medical experts. Rogan continued to actively discourage young adults from receiving the Covid-19 vaccine saying, ''if you’re like 21 years old, and you say to me, ‘Should I get vaccinated?’ I’ll go no.'”

Rogan’s repeated actions of hosting many discredited doctors and academics and placing his personal beliefs over medical experts have greatly endangered many of his listeners and upset health care workers. After the widely criticized January podcast, 270 doctors, physicians, and science educators signed an open letter calling out Spotify to allow Rogan to post his dangerous rhetoric and create no safeguards to control misinformation about the pandemic.

The controversy surrounding Rogan and his podcast upset Folk-rocker Neil Young, 76, who threatened to pull all of his streaming catalog from Spotify if Rogan’s podcast was not pulled.

Young said, "They can have Rogan or Young in an open letter from his website. Not both... Spotify is spreading fake information about vaccines — potentially causing death to those who believe the disinformation being spread by them.”

Since Young’s protest against Spotify, other musicians like Joni Michell also removed her streaming categories off Spotify to stand in solidarity with Young.

In response to the criticism, Rogan responded with a video message on Instagram. “I want to thank Spotify for being so supportive during this time, and I’m very sorry that this is happening to them and that they are taking so much heat from it,” Rogan said.

Rogan continued and promised to “do my best to make sure I have researched these topics, the controversial ones in particular, and have all the pertinent facts at hand before I discuss them.”

However, the damage is done. Rogan can apologize as often he wants, but as long as he continues to cash in on the benefits of misinformation, he is not sorry. While Rogan's podcast and rhetoric are protected under the 1st amendment, it does not the fact that there must be safeguards to ensure that people will obtain accurate information. The people we give massive public platforms are responsible to control the content that they are publishing, because having a platform entails the responsibility of using it for the good of society.

Instead of bridging people together during a tumultuous pandemic, Rogan contributes to a tremendous division through his misinformation. Having a public platform comes with great responsibility, which comes with conveying trust. Not all stories need two “sides” if the truth has been proven to be repeatedly accurate.

While Spotify CEO Daniel Elk “strongly condemn what Joe has said…I want to make one point very clear – I do not believe that silencing Joe is the answer.” Elk said in a statement.

Even with over 70 episodes of the “Joe Rogan Experience” deleted from the Spotify platform, that does not change the damage that has been done. Spotify has not mentioned any changes regarding misinformation being spread on their platform. Some forms of action would be adding disclaimers that podcasters are not medical experiments or Spotify's most active continue to flag content that may not be accurate.

Rogan’s comments and looseness to having questionably guests is a disservice to the community. His platform gives people who have been constantly fact-checked or even banned from other chances a spotlight to continue their false balance.